John Smedley Interview

This
past week, MMORPG.com writer Angie Webb had the opportunity to attend
the Syndicate Guild Conference in San Diego, California. Sony Online
Entertainment was there in force and luminaries included SOE president
John Smedley. Angie had the opportunity to spend some time with Mr.
Smedley to discuss SOE's stable of games and its relationship to the
Syndicate. Read the full report!

This
weekend, I attended the Syndicate Guild Conference, Syndcon, in San
Diego, CA. Sony Online Entertainment had a huge presence at this event
and John Smedley, the president of SOE, was there as well. SOE demoed
some of their upcoming games, including DC Universe Online and Star
Wars: Clone Wars to show Syndicate members what was going on back at
their headquarters.

The
Syndicate is a fourteen-year-old guild with a wide variety of players
run by Sean Stalzer. This guild is huge and professional, and has done
many things for the gaming industry including testing and consulting
for MMO companies. They are ordered, skilled, and they know their
games. But, I’ll write more about them very soon.

Amid the chaos,
I did find a quick moment to talk with Mr. Smedley. When I approached
him he was smiling and signing what looked like EQ game maps and
conference badges for players. He had just been involved in a game
talk, and was very receptive to being asked to chat and sign things.
After I asked him to sign mine as well, he agreed to let me ask him a
few questions about the upcoming games, Everquest, and his relationship
with the Syndicate.

MMORPG.com:

MMORPG.com:

What
is your favorite thing about DC Universe Online; what is it that you’re
most excited about with this game; and what is your favorite thing to
talk about?

John Smedley:

Probably
the action combat, so it’s never been done in an MMO before and I’m
excited about the idea that you can pick up a bus, throw it, and hit
somebody with it, and they can pick it back up and use it as a shield
or hit you with it. So to me, we’re changing the dynamics of MMO combat
completely and I think that’s a big deal. And I hope people like it and
I think they will.

MMORPG.com:

One
of the things I didn’t expect to be excited about yesterday was Star
Wars: Clone Wars. Yeah, and it sounded like it was being made solely
for kids.

John Smedley:

Really? Well it is.

MMORPG.com:

But, it really enticed me and I didn’t know if that “family-type atmosphere” was on purpose?

John Smedley:

It
is, we aimed it at kids, but we’re finding that, because of the Star
Wars property, that a lot of older folks want to play it and many
people in our office are in their twenties and thirties and they want
to play it. So it’s kind of a catch-22, you make something for kids but
adults. We’re certainly not going to stop it and we’ve even put in some
more advanced games for older folks to play.

MMORPG.com:

It sort of has that Facebook appeal, that very casual atmosphere.

John Smedley:

I’m glad to hear that, it means we’re doing something right.

MMORPG.com:

Yes, and well, I’m a Star Wars fan too, actually.

John Smedley:

Oh, well, that’s where we find that the older players, if there’re Star Wars fans, will give it a try. So, that’s a good thing.

MMORPG.com:

I’m curious about your connection with the Syndicate, and how that started. Could you talk about that relationship a little bit?

John Smedley:

Well, I approached Sean (Syndicate Guild leader) a few years ago because I read his book
and there was a chapter in it about Everquest and why they left. And
that had a pretty profound impact because, even though I intellectually
knew a lot of the things, what I didn’t see was the ramifications of
things like camping and some of the things that bothered them about it.
I knew them, but hearing the impact on the group that’s the size of the
Syndicate was big: “Oh, wow, I want to understand more of this.” Then I
went to speak at their Austin conference last year and I was so
impressed. If you look around here, I don’t know if you’ve spent much
time with them yet, but you see the families, you see the single
people, and the married people playing. It really is a family and I
like that. I like that a lot. I offered to host the conference here
this year. I brought my son last night and I’m bringing my wife
tomorrow. These are the kind of people that I want to hang out with and
make games for.

MMORPG.com:

They have been so welcoming. I didn’t know anyone coming out here, and they have been pretty amazing.

John Smedley:

Yeah, they are.

MMORPG.com:

One last thing, about Everquest. Do you still currently play either, and which one do you play?

John Smedley:

Everquest
2 and I still play Planetside. Planetside is probably the game I play
the most. If I had to pick one of my kids that’s the “cutest”, it’s
Planetside, I play FPSs more than I play any other kind of game